Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were both highly influential poetic writers in the twentieth century. Whitman portrayed the major characteristics of a transcendentalist while Dickinson demonstrated the core ideas of a realist. Whitman grew up in New York City and became a teacher at the age of seventeen. He despised the profession and quit because he believed that it was absurd to force students to conform to society’s standards. Whitman’s life is noticeably different than Dickinson’s. Emily Dickinson did not have much contact with the outside world. Since she was an agoraphobic, she often times wrote about her loneliness and isolation from others. Although Whitman and Dickinson are significantly different writers, they share many core themes, beliefs, and ideas throughout their works. Walt Whitman’s “I hear America Singing”, “A Noiseless Patient Spider”, and “The Voice of the Rain” clash with Emily Dickinson’s ”A Book”, “Nature is what we See”, and “I heard a Fly buzz before I Died”. “I hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman compares to Emily Dickinson’s “A Book”. While Whitman’s poem has a joyful tone, Dickinson’s has an informative one. Whitman presents his unified ideas about America; every working man in the nation contributes to America’s identity. For Example “Those of mechanics, each one singing …show more content…
The two writers came from different worlds and clashed through their works and what they believed in. These writers are important because they opened the eyes of many and described how one should view the world that they call home. Whitman and Dickinson give hope to those who lack individual spirit by emphasizing humanistic ideas. Walt Whitman’s “I hear America Singing”, “A Noiseless Patient Spider”, and “The Voice of the Rain” clash with Emily Dickinson’s ”A Book”, “Nature is what we See”, and “I heard a Fly buzz before I